After seeing davidmbedard’s “forum plea” about the lack of helpful “how to” topics, I thought I’d post a “how to” topic on remotoring Bachmann’s HO old-time 4-4-0 (older one with pancake motor).[:D]
This isn’t quite the easiest thing to do, but it will give you a basic idea on how to remotor other tender-to-engine drives.[:D]
The motor I used for this project is a high quality Mabuchi FK-130SH motor, which is the same motor used in medium sized Bachmann Spectrum steam engines, and small Bowser switchers and trolleys.
Step 1:
I started by disassembling the entire tender. I clipped the motor wires so the old motor would come right out. The rear tender truck screw on mine is different because I bought it used, and the original owner lost a couple parts.
Step 2:
I took the shaft socket off the old motor, expanded the hole for the 2mm shaft, and cut the small part of the back off so it could go on the new motor a little farther. I then put the socket on the small shaft of the motor so I wouldn’t have to cut any of the long shaft, and also so the solder tabs would be on the front.
Step 3:
I made marks on the frame the size of the motor’s side to show where the frame needed to be cut. The motor needs to go r
I remotered my J. Bowker 2-4-0 last year with the same motor, but it was an easier fit since those old AHM designs were scaled more closely to OO than HO. Depending on the diameter of the universal, you might be able to use brass tubing to splice the shaft together.
Nice work. Installing Harold’s wipers on mine is on my to-do list as well.
Good idea! Yet another way to make Bachmann 4-4-0s run even better![:D]
I know about the newer version with a good motor, but I thought it might be a good idea to show how to replace a bad or cheap motor with a good one.[:)] It looks like they improved the gears, too! I’ll have to look into those if I want another one.[:D]
I think the old AHM/Rivarossis were made larger so the motor would fit in there. I worked on one last year, and it had a fairly large square motor built into the tender.
Good idea. I’ll have to give that a try and see how it works.[:D]
The stock Bachmann 4-4-0 has traction tires on both the left and right rear drivers. Darth, since your 4-4-0 is wired to pickup from the right side engine wheels, would there be a benefit to reconfiguring the drivers so both traction tires are on the left side?
Looking at how Bachmann wired these locomotives, it’s not difficult to see why Harold’s wheel wipers can improve performance (you get eight tender wheel pickup). Bachmann uses the front truck and one driver to supply power for the headlight. The motor is powered from just two tender wheels on one side and two tender wheels and a single driver on the other side.
It would seem logical that reworking the locomotive to pickup from four right side engine wheels and four left side tender wheels should also provide a significant performance improvement. Both methods extend the electrical wheelbase.
You would get one more wheel picking up electricity, so it might handle switches and dirty track easier. Mine seems to work fine on switches, so it isn’t really something that needs to be done.
You the man Darth! I was wondering if you could fit a better motor in those. I’ve got an old one I’d love to repower. You can shorten (or lengthen) those drive shafts by cutting a section out of the middle and inserting the ball ends into a correct ID peice of tubing. (brass or plastic) Just make sure it’s straight and a good tight fit with a little CA.
I did this motor conversion in a couple 4-4-0 Bachmanns about three years ago. It works very nice. I use Harold’s tender wheel pickup idea also. I close couple by shortning the drive shaft and couple both halves with a small piece of brass tubing. This can affect minimum radius for the engine. Moot point now but just before Mantua went out of business, I bought General tender frames and used the Bachmann tender housing. I installed Lenz DCC decoders in the rear of the tender.
Wow, all positive response so far in a Bachmann topic![:D]
I went ahead and did a little more work on the shaft. I re-attached the ball coupling, and it runs much better now.[:D] Because of where I cut it, I couldn’t use brass tube to put it together, so instead I drilled a hole through the middle of the ball and shaft, stuck some brass wire through, and glued it all together. I don’t think it’s ever run so well since I’ve had it.[:D]
